


What If?...

by PrincessGarbage



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-25 15:44:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14980349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessGarbage/pseuds/PrincessGarbage
Summary: A series of drabbles/oneshots about "what if" scenarios in Stardew Valley! These are mostly things I wish would've happened in the game or headcanons I have.This will probably be pretty centric about my favorite characters (Shane, Sebastian, Abigail), but PLEASE feel free to request/comment "what ifs" you are interested in seeing! You never know I may add them ;)





	1. Shane drunk-writes all his letters to you?

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not have played 30 hours of Stardew over one week........ and I may or may not have two files open to marry Sebastian (on multiplayer where my farmhand marries Abigael) and Shane (flyin' solo). 
> 
> Also please forgive me if I misquote or get lore wrong, I've never played before this week! I am on Spring 2 on my farthest file currently. 
> 
> Comments/etc always appreciated <3

“Why are you talking to me? Go away.” 

“Don’t you have work to do?” 

“I don’t know you.” 

 

These were the words that you heard over and over when you tried to talk to, or even smile at, Shane. It had been almost a full season since your arrival into town, and you had managed to establish good terms with everyone in Stardew Valley, except him. 

It didn’t discourage you though, if anything it made you more persistent and excited to keep trying. You felt challenged to find gifts or crops he would like, and often found yourself making decisions on what to do for the day based on that challenge. 

All of this was one reason why you were so shocked to see a letter from Shane in your mailbox one morning in late Spring.

 

Shane had a late night at the Saloon. His usual swarm of intrusive thoughts had calmed a bit due to the alcohol, although he knew by the end of the night they would be back. Before that happened though, he had this sweet spot of pleasure and bliss to enjoy.

He smiled a bit as he made his way back to his Aunt’s barn, feeling safe to do so since no one else was up at this hour. 

As he expertly maneuvered inside without making too much noise, he knew not to wake Marnie or he would experience his next down sooner than scheduled, he noticed the parcel that he had tossed on the table earlier. It was from the farmer. 

The relentless, annoying, idiotic……… cute, perky, happy farmer. 

Those were the thoughts that were now rattling in his mind as he examined the delicately wrapped bundle of Salmonberries. They were his favorite snack during the spring, and he was far too lazy to spend time foraging for them himself. He remembered the farmer’s face lighting up when he didn’t ridicule the gift. 

Why was the farmer so damn nice anyways? Why’d they have to.. Just be like that? Why couldn’t he be more like that? Couldn’t he have just said thank you? His thoughts were becoming more cloudy as his last few beers he had chugged at the Saloon began to hit him. 

Before his low started, he had decided ‘fuck it’ and grabbed a pen and some paper Jas had left out after a coloring session. As coherently as he could allow, he wrote a letter and even managed to post it with the letters Marnie had bundled for pick up the next day. 

He promptly passed out after. 

 

You were squinting at the letter, trying to read the smudged and scribbled print. You could make out some words like, “...fun to send you a letter.” or “don't really know what to write...a treat for you.”. You could also make out the signature at the bottom with a “See you soon” before it. Attached was a recipe, and you were thrilled! 

Shane must really like Salmonberries, you thought with a smile as you connected your last gift to this letter. With newfound determination, you set off with a basket to pick more for another gift bundle, after finishing your morning chores of course. 

 

Shane awoke to a splitting headache and no recollection of the night before. While fumbling around in the freezer for a frozen meal after finally willing his body upright (which took considerable time and effort), Marnie approached him. 

“Good morning Shane.” She said with a sly smile. 

He grunted in return, so she continued, “I posted the letter you left out from last night. Although, I had to re-address the envelope, I’m not sure the post would’ve understood who 'cuteass farmer’ was. I did though, so no worries!” 

Shane dropped the pizza on the floor and turned with wide-eyes, mortified, to look at his aunt, who was already walking away in an effort to hold back her giggles.

 

He made a mental note to avoid the farmer for a while, if the farmer let him that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the always dangerous IRL drunk text. I was so confused when I got such nice letters from Shane and would expect him to be more friendly IRL, but he's not! He just keeps telling me to buzz off, but sends me kind letters all the time. So this was my conclusion that made sense to me, lol! He must be getting liquid courage before writing letters expressing how he really feels.
> 
> I just... I love this Sad Chicken Man so much //sobs. Hope you enjoyed! I have a few more scenarios that I have already thought of coming up soon! These are just for fun, so not heavily edited etc :)


	2. Sebastian scolded you over frogs?

As per your usual end of the season tradition, you were out foraging. Clearing out all logs, stones, and patches of overgrown grass, as well as picking any stray berries or wild plants you found. 

This was a relaxing time for you, as your crops were over for the season and your work was relatively stress free. You had already tilled the fields and fertilized the grounds, so the beginning of next season would be a little less difficult. 

Truly, you were feeling accomplished and at ease. Which is why hearing a startled voice yell to you shocked you so much.

 

You had just been clearing some overgrown patches of grass around the lake near the mines, and suddenly heard a voice.

“What are you doing?! Can’t you see you’re destroying their homes!” A man’s voice called suddenly, cracking a bit in panic. 

You whipped around to face the familiar voice, immediately placing it as Sebastian, who of course lived nearby. 

His gaze was wide-eyed and intently focused on the ground near you. Following it, you noticed a few frogs hopping wildly away from where you had just cleared the grass. 

“Oh no!” You shrieked, looking at your scythe in horror, then back at Sebastian, who was now red in the face over his own sudden outburst. 

“The frogs! I had no idea. I was so in my own world, geez. What am I going to do?” You said tucking your tool away in your bag and looking at Sebastian with a guilty face. 

He scoffed a bit, still a little embarrassed at himself and trying to regain his ‘cool’. “Well… You could always try…” he trailed off, face still red, “..a frog house.” he finished, his voice a bit quieter than before.

“A frog house? Like a fairy house?” You asked, tilting your head a bit in confusion, having never heard of such a thing before.

“Pff, well yes, but with a real purpose.” Sebastian smirked a bit. 

“Do you know how to build one?” You asked. He nodded in response, so you continued. “That’s amazing! I had no idea. I’ve hardly ever given a thought to frogs. Could you help me?” 

His face tinted a slight pink again, and he began to light the cigarette he had come outside to smoke. After a puff he answered you, “I guess.” 

 

And that was how you finished your season building frog houses and installing them all around the valley with the help of a ever so reluctant and quiet Sebastian (you were almost positive this was the most sun he had gotten all year, with how much sunscreen he insisted on slathering on). 

You never knew Sebastian had such a passion for frogs, as he worked he smiled so much more than you were accustomed to. It was actually really cute hearing him ramble about types of frogs or the environment frogs needed. Of course, he always got embarrassed when he realized how much he was talking, but you made sure he knew that you were really interested in what he had to say.

Maybe he could help you install a terrarium in your farm one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is honestly based off my farmhand's reaction to me cutting the grass when the cute little frogs hop out! Since Sebastian always talks about finding frogs in the rain (I'm pretty sure Abigail does this too, so this could've easily been about her too!) I immediately thought of him. 
> 
> These have been so fun to write, short and sweet. Thanks for any/all feedback and support! As always, I'm open to your "what if" ideas too! :)


	3. You gave Abigail her first sword?

“If I had a sword, I’d definitely be exploring the mines right now!” Abigail had told you one day in passing, but you noticed her eyes were gleaming with a lust for adventure.

“Oh? I would’ve never guessed.” You teased, recalling her insistence at always being the warrior during Solarion Chronicles, which caused many tussles with Sam. 

“Ha ha, very funny.” She scoffed lightly and sighed, looking at the hilt of your sword sticking out from your bag, “I guess you’re headed to the mines then? You’re walking that way..” 

“Yep!” You smiled, feeling a bit guilty, “I’ll let you know if I find anything good. You know I always keep my eyes out for quartz and amethyst.”

Abigail lightened up a bit at that, “Thank you, you’re always so sweet.” Then she let out a small sigh, “I wish my Dad wasn’t so.. Stiff. He hates it when I even mention this kinda stuff. It’s so frustrating, my parents act like I’m still a kid just because I live at home still.”

You notice Abigail’s frustrations growing as she speaks, and give the best reassuring smile you can manage. Honestly, you aren’t really sure what you could say or do to help her, but Yoba do you wish you did.  
.   
Abigail notices your situation and forces a smile, “Sorry, sorry, no need for me to just dump my shit on you. Have extra fun in there for me!” She motions to the mines with a big smile before hastily taking her leave.

You frown a bit at her exit, wishing you could help. You sigh and head to the mines, deciding that you could take out your frustrations on some rocks and monsters.

 

As you plow through the first level of the day, your thoughts focus on Abigail, although that isn’t much of a change from your usual. 

Really, Abigail would probably be a better candidate than you as “Mine Adventurer”, as you haven’t really had much time since moving in a bit over a season ago to explore. 

Thankfully, you were working through floors today rather quickly and peacefully, as it could be dangerous for you to be so distracted in the mines. For some reason there were fewer rocks to mine and monsters to defeat. You felt lucky that these past few floors had the passageway to the next already exposed.

Entering the next room, you smacked your forehead in defeat. You seemingly jinxed yourself, as this room was absolutely bursting with rocks.

After some time hacking away, you finally discovered the ladder to the next floor, long forgotten. What floor were you on anyways? Close to Twenty? How many were even in this dang mine and would you ever make it to the end?!

Your thoughts were seemingly answered, as you carefully made your way down the ladder and into a small room labeled “Twenty” with a chest. 

Inside it was a brand new sword, looking much nicer than the rusty one Marlon gave you. 

Suddenly, the solution was clear to you. 

 

On your way home, you slipped a note on the bulletin board for Abigail. She would know what it meant.

 

The next day, you headed to the ‘secret’ meeting spot that you and Abigail founded in the mountain woods after your farm work. 

As expected, Abigail was there waiting.

 

“Hey! What’s up with the sudden meeting, did you find something good last night?” Abigail asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

You nodded, trying to contain your own smiles and excitement as you handed her a pouch, containing the usual minerals you saved for her. 

“Sweet! Thanks so much-” Abigail started to speak, then paused as you pulled out your new sword from your bag.

She looked like a kid at the Feast of the Winter Star, you swore you saw stars in her eyes. 

“You got a new sword?!” Abigail squealed, unable to contain herself any longer.

You shook your head, and she looked at you in confusion.

“You got a new sword.” You answered, smiling wide.

Abigail just stared at you blankly, not quite comprehending what you said for a moment. 

“Me?...” She asked, to which you quickly nodded and offered her the sword in your palms.

She gingerly picked up the blade, examining it carefully. Finally, she broke out into a new smile, with teary eyes.

“Oh, I can’t believe it! I just- I just love you!!” She put the sword down and sprang into your arms, knocking you backwards as she gave you a tight hug. 

You just beamed, heart beating quickly, “Love you too. I can show you some pointers, or we can go to Marlon. He may be able to give you a starter pack like he gave me so you’re more prepared for the mines.” 

Abigail blinked again, “You want me to .. go with you? Into the mines?”

“Well, of course I do! You think this sword is just to stash under your bed for looks? It makes the most sense, I’m always so busy at the farm. You’ll have more time to explore, after we do some practice runs together of course. Plus... “ You blushed a bit, “I would like to spend more time with you, too.” 

Abigail smiled again, her arms still wrapped around you from the hug, “You’re amazing.” She said softly, before giving you a chaste kiss.

Before you could process, she had pulled away and unsheathed her sword, “Now then!” She said with a determined look.

“Show me some moves, adventurer!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always wondered where Abigail got her sword! And it was torture not to be able to gift her one in the games, so I fixed that ;)


	4. You made Shane a mix-tape?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Note: This happens prior to Shane's 6 heart event!)  
> A little longer this time! Enjoy :)

You were running low on red peppers, even though you had planted SO many during the summer. It was honestly a bit ridiculous, and obvious, how many peppers you had planted and hoarded. Peppers only stayed good for so long after all!

You felt bad just packing up eggs and dropping them off with a note at Marnie’s farm (you always brought two cartons to be polite, one for Marnie and one for Shane). Sometimes when you ran into Shane, you would give him some eggs in person too, or perhaps some clams you had collected on the beach.

You worried he thought you were a bit weird, but you also gave everyone in the valley presents too! Although you didn’t hoard all of their favorite things like a red-pepper loving dragon…

Regardless, you were getting a bit bored with this method of gift-giving. You wanted to mail a nice letter or something. Shane was always writing you interesting letters with smuggled Joja-goods or recipes attached. 

So you decided to give it a go.

 

When it got down to it, you weren’t sure what to write. You had sat with some paper and a pen for nearly fifteen minutes, scribbling out and tossing far too much paper for an eco-conscious farmer like yourself. 

You loved gifts, before you moved to the valley you gave the best gifts to your friends, even making thoughtful mix-tapes on special occasions. 

You gasped, that’s it!

You would make him a mix-tape!

 

Then you grimaced and slumped down on the table, what if he thought that was super weird? What if he thought your taste in music was really weird?

Or even worse, what if you offended him?

You already had a few songs in mind, some of your favorites that had recently began to remind you of him, but…

Some of them were a bit.. dark? Emotional? You weren’t sure of the word. You knew Shane had his own struggles, although he was pretty guarded about them. You would hate to upset him at all.

Groaning and staring at your paper again, you continued to think over the idea. 

 

After some time, you decided that you would go ahead with the mix-tape, but would also attach your typical song-list with some modifications. 

You had decided to write out the name of the song and explain why you had added it to the list as well as note if it was emotionally heavy or not.

 

Pretty soon, meaning about an hour later, you had a pretty good list planned out! Of course, it had some of your classic faves (meaning, middle school jams), but was well-balanced with some of your new faves.

You wrote about a few of the more heavy songs, opening up a bit and speaking to some of your own struggles and how these particular songs helped you. 

There was a song or two that spoke to some.. different feelings though. 

Fitting within the same sound of the list, so not sticking out too much, but that spoke to more of your feelings towards or about Shane. For the other songs, you focused on tunes you thought he would relate to or like. 

With a bit of hesitancy, you included these and made a note of, ‘ _This one isn’t too heavy, but reminds me of you!_ ’ on the list.

 

Eventually after creating the actual track and posting the little package along with some of your usual treats for Shane, you put it in the mail with tinted cheeks. 

Now all you had to do was force yourself not to overthink it and distract yourself with farm work (your go-to strategy!)

 

The next day, the package was gone and you breathed a sigh of relief, there was no going back now.

 

Shane was surprised to have gotten a package in the mail. He didn’t remember ordering anything recently. When Marnie handed it to him, and gave him a sly smile, he frowned a bit, glancing at the address.

Then his ears turned pink.

“Shut up, Marnie.” He grumbled, “I forgot I had ordered some… veggies. For the new chicken feed I’m working on.” He lied, and it was obvious, but he didn’t care. 

Instead he quickly left to toss the package in his room and escape to work.

 

You weren’t in a hurry to see Shane today, or maybe even tomorrow, just in case. So instead you kept clear of the Saloon, Joja, and Marnie’s farm. 

 

Shane couldn’t stop thinking of the package during his shift at Joja. It was actually all he could think about, which was evident by the mistakes he made throughout the day at work. 

Every time the front door dinged, he “casually” looked to see if it was you coming in. He thought maybe you would come by to see if he liked whatever you sent him. What did you send him?

It was driving him crazy.

 

After work he didn’t even go to the Saloon.

Instead he snuck in the back entrance to the farm, not wanting to be under Marnie’s teasing gaze. 

 

His heart was beating ridiculously fast and he hated it. It was just a stupid package. It was probably nothing. Maybe the farmer had even addressed it wrong by accident. 

 

Finally, after triple checking that Marnie was out, he made it into his room and locked the door. 

Then, he just stared at the package for a few minutes. He was able to hold it by then, but continued to stare at it instead of opening it. 

He had been thinking about this stupid thing all day and now he was too nervous to open it. 

 

A little while later, after a false-alarm of someone coming home, he tore into the package.

He saw the track first, squinting a bit in confusion, then picked up the letter:

_Hi Shane!_

_I hope this isn’t weird. I guess that’s already a weird way to start a letter, sorry!_

_I’ve been listening to more music lately while I work, and I kept thinking of you when I heard some of these songs. So! I thought I would pass this track along to you in case you liked music, or maybe wanted to know what music I like. I mean, I’m sure you like music.. And I hope you haven’t heard all of these before, or that you HAVE heard them and don’t like them! If you do, I’m sorry :c_

_Anyways! Sorry for rambling. I’ve included a track list and an explanation list of each song! Some of them are a little emotionally heavy, so I wanted to give some background for them!_

_I hope you like it._

_P.S. PLEASE don’t judge my music taste!!!!_

Shane’s face was scrunched up in concentration as he read, and every so often he would snort or laugh as he read the letter. The farmer was so ridiculous, always worrying about dumb stuff. 

He thought it was cute, but wouldn’t admit it.

Then he flipped the letter, heart still pounding, and looked at the track list. Some of these were actually songs he knew, and liked, but most were new to him. 

He decided to dig out his old headphone set so he could play the tape privately.

 

He was about to plug it in, when he really did hear someone come home. “Shit” he hissed, gathering the tape and his headphones while shoving the letters in his pocket. In his panic, he climbed out of his window to head to the dock and listen with a six-pack from his mini fridge. 

 

At the dock, he read each explanation to the respective song. 

He was so surprised that the farmer had put so much care into each choice. It was obvious this wasn’t some thrown together track list.. 

Why did you put in such effort for him? He couldn’t understand it.

As he read the explanations for the ‘heavier’ songs, he felt a bit embarrassed, understanding why you put in the effort to give him warnings and hated that he needed that. Deep inside, he appreciated it. He just didn’t know why he had to be such a loser. 

Reading your explanations that shared your personal connections to the songs made him feel better though. Then he felt like an asshole for never considering that you had your own shit to deal with. 

 

Eventually, after a few drinks, he was nearing the end of the list. He had gotten to the track(s) that were a bit more personal to you.

Surprisingly, these had the shortest commentary. He shrugged and just listened to the song.

 

Then he dropped his beer.

What had that song just said in the lyrics?

He hissed, scooting away from the spilt drink not wanting to ruin his (precious) letters and tape. Then he rewound the song and listened to the words again. 

He looked at your note again, reading the end out loud, “reminds me of you..”

His heart fluttered and he was grateful no one was around to see his reddened face. He shot-gunned another beer to stop himself from over-thinking and instead focused on finishing the tape.

 

The next morning Marnie was surprised to see him walking out of the house with headphones on, but after a few days, she thought nothing of the ever-constant headphones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to be ambiguous with what technology the track was on "mix-tape" meaning CD or playlist or actual tape. or whatever they have in stardew! 
> 
> I also made an actual playlist to inspire me, but I left it ambiguous what songs were on here, because those would be YOUR taste in songs :) Also my taste in music is not great and I'm sure y'all are better off with some ambiguity. Maybe you would have fun making a playlist of your own!


End file.
